Six California institutions receiving grants from NASA

LOS ANGELES — JPL and UCLA are among six California institutions
receiving grants from NASA to support the Origins of Solar Systems
research program, the space agency announced Wednesday.

The program involves "investigations related to understanding
the formation and early evolution of planetary systems, and to
provide the fundamental research and analysis necessary to detect
and characterize other planetary systems," according to NASA.

The research institutions and maximum grant awards are:

— NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena: $570,000;

— UCLA: $171,000;

— UC Berkeley: $204,000;

— NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field: $306,000;

— UC Santa Barbara: $272,000;

— UC Santa Cruz: $232,000.

The research also supports the Vision for Space Exploration,
NASA's long- term plan to return astronauts to the moon and extend
exploration to Mars and beyond.